Plans for horticulture and arable sectors progressing

The Water Catchment Partnership was established in 2013 to proactively work together to promote and raise awareness of best practice when using Plant Protection Products, in the garden or on the farm, through a voluntary approach to improve water quality.

The partnership have been progressing the communication of best practice on Grassland weed control since its establishment.

Everyone has an interest in having access to the highest possible quality drinking water and representatives from UFU, DARD, NI Water and NIEA will be present this year at Balmoral Show (13th – 15th May 2015) on the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) stand.

To find out more about the Water catchment Partnership visit: The Voluntary Initiative web-site at www.voluntaryinitiative.org.uk

AHDB / HGCA Representatives visit Northern Ireland for back to back meeting with industry

Sir Peter Kendall Chairman AHDB, Paul Temple Chairman HGCA and Dr Martin Grantley-Smith Head of Business Development HGCA are progressing plans to visit AFBI Plant Testing Station at Crossnacreevy, CAFRE Greenmount Antrim where they will view the new state of the art dairy and horticulture units, including a visit to the Balmoral show to meet with the UFU Leadership Team, visit the Grain Chain in the NI Good Food marquee, meet the NI Potato Promotion Group and UFU Livestock representatives.

The Grain Chain for kids will be in the NI Food Marquee in partnership with Food NI, CAFRE, DARD and UFU. This experience will offer kids a fun way to interact and learn about grains. The Krazi Baker Mark Douglas will be on hand supporting HGCA with this initiative. Mark came up with the idea for baking breads after visiting scores of markets on city breaks over the years. He saw bread being brought into markets and wondered why it couldn’t be made on site, so now he does! His range is expanding all the time, and includes soda, wheaten and treacle farls, to mention a few.

Greening SAF4

Count down for submitting SAF4 – Area-Based Schemes / Greening applications on the 15th May 2015. Help is available for all farmers who need help with the SAF4 Greening application.

Contact the DARD help line 0300 200 7848 or your local DARD Direct Office and register immediately for workshop assistance/guidance in your area.

The arable sector welcome and support the work of Copa-Cogeca agreeing that ‘the greening measures are highly bureaucratic and a reduction in red tape could better help farmers achieve the desired environmental benefits.’

NI Potato Promotion

campaign

UFU Deputy President Ivor Ferguson welcomes the offer of financial assistance from the Northern Ireland Regional Food Programme (NIRFP) to the NI Potato Stakeholder Promotion Group for the generic promotion of potatoes.

This funding will help the NI Potato Promotion Group engage a professional marketing/PR organisation to identify a communication strategy and timetable with key messages for the 2015 / 2016 campaign.